The Power Of Dirty Waters Summary

Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair’s “The Power of Dirty Waters: Indigenous Poetics” exemplifies the importance of language to Indigenous culture and how language is used to relate to the world. This is ultimately what he strives for as his thesis; he tries to argue the idea that language is the most important power for relation to the Earth and its inhabitants. Sinclair begins strongly by discussing the history of Lake Winnipeg, and how the name “Winnipeg” embodies the ecology of the lake. This example of how a word has such a strong concept behind it is effectively used to draw the reader in, and sets up a strong ground for the theme of the article. Sinclair touches on how the Cree and Anishinaabeg were able to use this metaphor of Lake Winnipeg to tell stories about “muddied beings”(205) and how they had a powerful effect on the cleanliness of the water. This was an idea that stood out, however it was not deeply discussed, but rather used as an anecdote to move into another theme. Sinclair embraced many ideas in his article with each notion having the ability to add great depth to the article, however rather than building on these ideas, they all seemed to be more transitionary ideas than supporting ideas. “The Power of Dirty Waters: Indigenous Poetics” seems to lack …show more content…
It embodies a fascinating idea of the growth and adaption that language can have, and gives life to language as a whole. Had this been greater detailed, Sinclair’s article would have had a much stronger impact on the reader, and it would have been a clearer argument, however again, this theme was lost to the lack of relation to the rest of the article. This theme of “writing in a tree” would have been a powerful demonstration of the how essential language is to the First Nations people had it not been over shadowed by the many other themes he